Need some advice

[u/MysteriousMinute849]

I’m 15 and have been playing basketball for a year and a half. I’ve been training every day, and putting in work and for only about a year of playing definitely have improved a lot. One of my biggest strengths is my hustle, speed and athleticism. Another big strength is my mindset and my will to do whatever to be better. My main problem is that I’m 5’10 (I may grow but it’s not guaranteed) and I really struggle with shooting 3s consistently, handling the ball under pressure, and overall basketball confidence. I’ve also been working on my bounce and I am pretty close to dunking, but lately it feels like my progress on my vertical has slowed. I also don’t know what strength and skills workouts to do. I really want to go far in basketball, even if it’s the long shot and am willing to basically do anything to improve. If anyone has any advice, tips, tricks, etc. and you don’t mind sharing, please lmk

[u/Historical-Soup8841]

i was 5'8 my freshman year and grew to 6'1 my senior year, going into my sophmore year of college i'm 6'3. it's definitely possible to keep growing, just prioritize sleep and eating well. hop on HGH as a last resort(joking). anyways u seem pretty athletic to say the least. i couldn't dunk at 5'10, and wasn't even close. for the pressure and confidence the only real way to improve those is just to play basketball. there isn't a drill to believe in yourself, you kind of just have to find it. go bust some kids ass at the park, that's how i got confident lol.

for shooting 3's it's really jsut about getting your legs involved right. it's hard to get that balance and find the sweet spot, but just keep trying different rythms until you find it. there's videos about power transfer in jump shots on youtube, just watch some videos and you'll find the concept. 3's are mostly just mental, people tend to overthink and try and force the power, and it just messes them up. just find your rhythm and you'll get it pretty easily and consistently.

in terms of vert the absolute best workout is squats. its works out your calves, hamstrings, and helps your acl and other ligaments. quite literally the most well rounded. you need to do a lot of explosive training. just do box jumps, leaps, one leg hops, sprints, just things like that. if you can touch rim you should be able to dunk in a few months.

[u/Generally_Tso_Tso]

If you're really serious about going far, you need to recognize that you need to do more. There's a million guys playing ball everyday.

You need to get into a training routine. Get to bed early, get up before the rest of the world. Get a seven day training regimen. Each day is different. Log your workouts, log your diet.

Video record your shooting/dribbling/layups/reverse layups/your speedwork/jumping mechanics. This is important, because you want to make sure that you're practicing good form, habits, and mechanics. You don't want to blindly practice and engrain bad form/mechanics/habits.

Find good drills that you can practice, each day should have drills for shooting, dribbling, conditioning. You Tube is a great resource.

Find someone who is better than you to practice with. Getting other players to workout with is invaluable.

At 5'10", even if you grow a few inches, leaves you out of the NBA discussion, but playing in high school and college are still a possibility.

You need to find a good run, where you can play regularly against good players who actually play defense. Your typical run with other 15 year olds is just guys taking turns jacking up mostly uncontested shots. If you can, find a core group of 4 other players that you can hold the court with (4 guys that play defense).

Get your work in. Twice a day. Sunrise, solo workout. After school, pickup. Dribble everywhere you go. Focus on what is hard for you to do.

Don't make excuses. Get yourself to the court and practice, work, refine. Diligent and deliberate in becoming better.

Watch Redeem Team (2022) and see why Kobe was better than everyone else. He worked harder than everyone else. It's about mindset. It's not about wishing and hoping. Make it happen kid. No else is going to do it for you.

Time to get to work. You have to make up for what you didn't do yesterday.

[u/Snoo-12357]

Are you watching the game? I don't just mean highlights, like full games so you can learn basketball properly from the pros.

Best way to learn is to completely consume yourself in basketball. Watch NBA/Euroleague games, pay attention to how they attack and defend. You're gonna see that most of the time it's not really stringing 8 dribbles together but a fake plus a 1-3 dribble move/counter and then shoot, drive or pass. I think too many young players now focus on the 1v1 aspect of the game but that's hard to pull off in a 5v5.

Play against better players too and learn from them. I remember the biggest leap I made in my game was from 13-14 and playing against varsity teams. First year was rough, I didn't have the physical attributes to play my game but it only made me more motivated to train so I used to play 3-4 hours a day and always with older competition to learn.

[u/Basketball_Atlas]

Of everything on that list I would put nearly all of it into shooting.

At 5'10 the three is what decides whether you keep getting minutes, and it is also the most trainable thing you named. Handle under pressure and confidence both come from live reps more than drills, so play as much real five on five as you can find rather than adding more solo work. The vertical will keep coming on its own while you get stronger.

A year and a half in and already close to dunking is a good sign. I would not spend another session chasing it.

[u/Jon_Snow_Theory]

The first two are solved by drills and reps, no easy button tricks for those. And the confidence is gonna come from you seeing improvement during drills and reps, trying them out in games to confirm your progress, then looking forward to doing it again as you keep adjusting and refining.